Categories
Archives
-

-
Recent Posts
- Review: The Chronology of Water (2025)
- Review: Come Closer (2025)
- “Even to this day, I watch The Wizard of Oz like I did when I was five years old. I get really involved in it.” — Lynne Ramsay
- “Elvis may be the King of Rock and Roll, but I am the Queen.” — Little Richard
- “The ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language.” — Joan Didion
- NYFCC 2025 winners
- A Streetcar Named Desire: That’s What Williams Wrote. Deal With It.
- “Intellect and taste count, but I cut with my feelings.” — legendary editor Dede Allen
- “My aesthetic is that of the sniper on the roof.” — Jean-Luc Godard
- “I have trouble working off things that are too preconceived, like storyboards.” — Terrence Malick
Recent Comments
- mutecypher on Review: The Chronology of Water (2025)
- Krsten Westergaard on “I thought girls in their teens might like to read [Anne of Green Gables], that was the only audience I hoped to reach.” — L.M. Montgomery
- Gemstone on “Well, if I can’t be happy, I can be useful, perhaps.” — Louisa May Alcott
- Jincy Willett on The Books: “Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles” (Kathleen Turner)
- Son on Boyhood (2014); directed by Richard Linklater
- Matheus on “I’m not the person I was at 28. The passion is still there but the rage mostly isn’t.” — Marshall Mathers
- mutecypher on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- mutecypher on “There’s nothing you can tell me about guilt.” — Martin Scorsese
- sheila on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- Mike Molloy on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- sheila on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- Mike Molloy on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- sheila on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- sheila on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- sheila on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- Lyrie on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- Mike Molloy on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- Lyrie on Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Guillermo del Toro: a live event
- Melissa Sutherland on Review: Die My Love (2025)
- Gale on For John Wayne’s Birthday: Hondo (1953) at MoMA: John Wayne in 3D
-
Tag Archives: Japan
Review: Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2018)
The first from Studio Ponoc – created out of the ashes of the now-shuttered legendary Studio Ghibli – is rather slight, but an impressive start. My review of Mary and the Witch’s Flower is now up at Rogerebert.com.
January 2017 Viewing Diary
Conspiracy (2001; d. Frank Pierson) The definition of “the room where it happens”. The awful room where something vile was decided. The TV movie starring Kenneth Branagh (so excellent) about the Wannsee Conference. It’s superb. Based on the one surviving … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Akira Kurosawa, Asghar Farhadi, Carrie Fisher, dance, documentary, Elia Kazan, Iran, Iranian film, Japan, Supernatural, Taraneh Alidoosti, Turkey, women directors
18 Comments
January 2016 Viewing Diary
“30 for 30” Chasing Tyson (2015; d. Steve Cantor) I love the 30 for 30 series on ESPN but had never seen this one, the story of Evander Holyfield’s pursuit of Mike Tyson. I’ve got a Tyson thing. I loved … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Bill Murray, Channing Tatum, France, Iranian film, Italy, J. Miller Tobin, Japan, Rebecca Hall, Richard Widmark, Sofia Coppola, Supernatural, war
23 Comments
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2014
I may write some magnum opus in the next two days, you never know, but here are links to some of the things I’ve written in 2014, here and elsewhere. I have worked hard to keep my site an eclectic … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Personal
Tagged Alfred Wertheimer, Anna Magnani, Austria, Carroll Baker, Christopher Hitchens, Claude Rains, Eli Wallach, Elvis Presley, Eminem, France, friends, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Harry Potter, Howard Hawks, Inherent Vice, Iran, Iranian film, Israel, Italy, Jafar Panahi, Japan, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Crawford, John Cassavetes, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Wiig, Kwik Stop, Lars von Trier, Lauren Bacall, Lester Bangs, Liv Ullmann, Lon Chaney, Love Streams, Mark Twain, Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Cage, Orpheus Descending, Palestine, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Poland, Richard Linklater, Romania, Russia, Seth Rogen, Seymour Cassel, Sudden Fear, Supernatural, Sweden, Tennessee Williams, The Beatles, The Everly Brothers, Tommy Lee Jones, Trotsky, war, year in writing, Zac Efron
14 Comments
Review: The Wind Rises (2014); directed by Hayao Miyazaki
“The Wind Rises” is the latest from beloved Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki (it’s nominated for an Oscar) and Miyazaki has also announced it will be his final feature. I saw the version that was in Japanese with English subtitles. There … Continue reading
Ikiru (1952); directed by Akira Kurosawa
Ikiru Directed by Akira Kurosawa How does the knowledge of death change how we live? It is the problem of human existence, the essential problem, that we have a hard time acknowledging the reality of death, and living accordingly. We … Continue reading
Rotterdam @ BAM: Autumn Adagio (2009; d. Tsuki Inoue)
Originally published on House Next Door: [Editor’s Note: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is partnering with the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) to highlight the films in IFFR’s prestigious VPRO Tiger Awards competition (given to first- or second-time filmmakers). A … Continue reading

